1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a supply chain management system and, in particular, to an improved system, method, and apparatus for managing an integrated supply chain of livestock such as beef cattle via a networked system solution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Livestock producers, from seed stock producers to feedlot operators, are responsible for the quality and safety of livestock products available to the consuming public. In order to assist producers in employing management strategies and techniques to produce better products, livestock quality assurance programs were developed. Such programs are typically state managed educational efforts geared at promoting the production of safe, wholesome, and high quality products by producers. These efforts focus on management practices relative to feed and sources, feed additives and medications, individual treatments, record keeping, carcass quality, and care and husbandry practices that can be put into place by all producers to prevent safety and quality defects in beef products.
Recently, there has also been considerable effort to develop livestock management practices that incorporate modern technology to upgrade the levels of quality, production, and value to the various participants in the livestock supply chain. However, most of these efforts focus on only one or a few of the entities in the supply chain. The supply chain in the beef industry has been substantially disconnected from an integrated management standpoint. Beef processors began to work with retailers on a limited basis with the advent of boxed beef, and then began to work more closely with those retailers as opportunities for further processing products developed over time. Today, beef processors have further increased their involvement in the supply chain through owning and/or contracting livestock. They do not maintain and operate an integrated network system solution whereby retailers are able to meet consumer demand preferences by being involved in the real-time decision making process at the livestock production level.
Beef producers have had an even more limited participation in supply chain management processes. There have been several producer groups that developed alliances involving retailers over the last 10 years. However, these alliances have been limited to producers and the like agreeing to supply a contracted amount of product for a given period of time. Product improvement adjustments in these types of arrangements are typically made on a periodic basis and outside of an integrated management system. To date, there have been no attempts to facilitate a comprehensive supply chain management system that incorporates all of the participants in the supply chain. Thus, an improved management and communications tool that services and manages an integrated supply chain of livestock via a networked system solution would be desirable.